The number
of prostituted persons in the Philippines is about the size of the country's manufacturing
workforce, according to Rene Ofreneo, a former Philippine labor undersecretary and an
expert on the sex trade. (Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies,
study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)
There are 400,000 to 500,000 prostituted persons in the
Philippines. Prostituted persons are mainly adult women, but there are also male,
transvestite and child prostitutes, both girls and boys. (International Labor
Organization. Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study
says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)
In the Philippines, a recent study showed there are about 75,000
children, who were forced into prostitution due to poverty. (Dario Agnote, "Sex trade
key part of S.E. Asian economies, study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)
There are 400,000 women in prostitution in 1998, excluding unregistered,
seasonal prostitutes, overseas entertainers and victims of external trafficking. One
fourth of them are children and each year 3,266 more children are forced into the sex
industry. (GABRIELA, Diana Mendoza, "RP Has 400,000 Prostitutes," TODAY,
25 February 1998)
There are 375,000 women and children in prostitution in the Philippines. Most of them,
aged 15 - 20, are from semi-rural and urban backgrounds and have been victims of incest
and sexual abuse. ("375,000 Filipino Women and Kids Are Into
Prostitution," Philippine Daily Inquirer, 26 July 1997)
There are 300,000 women and children in prostitution in the Philippines. (Gabriela,
Statistics and the State of the Philippines, 24 July 1997)
There are more than 60,000 children in prostitution. (Welfare officials estimates, Abby
Tan, "Sex Case Focuses Concern On Domestic Paedophilia," 21 March 1997)
40,000 Filipino children
were involved in child prostitution. (Philippine Foreign Ministry, Jill Serjeant,
"Asia to launch joint crackdown on child sex trade," Reuters, 1 April
1998)
There are reports of people prostituting for food or water. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking
in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Most of the men buying prostitutes in Pasay City are taxi drivers, laborers,
businessmen, foreigners and male teenagers’ eager to lose their virginity. (Joel San
Juan, "Poverty still behind world’s oldest profession," TODAY, 26 July
1998)
In Cebu, the number of registered prostitutes increased from 1,557 in 1992, to 2,189 in
June 1994, to 2.988 in June 1996. This number does not include the estimated 1.500
non-registered prostitutes. (Gabriela, Statistics and the State of the Philippines, 24
July 1997)
In Cebu City, the number of registered prostitutes rose from 1,500 in 1993 to 4,500 in
1997. In Davao City in 1993, there were 80 prostitution establishments, by 1997 there were
135, which increased the number of registered prostitutes by 2,000 and the number of
unregistered by 2,000. (GABRIELA, Diana Mendoza, "RP Has 400,000 Prostitutes,"
TODAY, 25 February 1998)
In Davao, there were 868 prostitutes in 1993 and 1,525 in the first half of 1996.
(Gabriela, Statistics and the State of the Philippines, 24 July 1997)
Of 500 prostitutes in Angeles City, 75% are children. (Sol. F. Juvida,
"Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child Prostitution," IPS, 12 October
1997)
The Philippines is fourth among 9 nations with the most children in prostitution, with
60,000 - 100,000. The top five areas for child prostitution and sex tourism are Metro
Manila, Angeles City, Puerto Galera in Mindoro Province, Davao and Cebu(UNICEF and
non-governmental organizations, Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge of
Child Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)
40,000 Filipino children are in prostitution. (Philippines Foreign Minister, Domingo
Siazon, Robin Cook, "Clampdown on child sex tourism," BBC News UK, 4 April 1998)
75% of the estimated 500 prostitutes in the "Area," a ghetto known for child
prostitution in Angeles City are children. (Susan Pineda, of Pro-Women Action,
"Scourge of Child Prostitution," Sol. F. Juvida, InterPress Service, 12 October
1997)
Filipinos are the main users of Filipinas in prostitution. (Women's Education,
Development, Productivity and Research Organisation, "Scourge of Child
Prostitution," Sol. F. Juvida, InterPress Service, 12 October 1997)
Filipino men who buy prostitutes don't care if she is 15 or 25. ("Scourge of Child
Prostitution," Sol. F. Juvida, InterPress Service, 12 October 1997)
In 1984, there were 7 provinces with child sex rings. Today, they are present in 37
provinces. (UNICEF, Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child
Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)
Children, aged 11 to 15, in prostitution said relatives introduced them to
prostitution, or they were recruited by friends. (Institute for the Protection of
Children, Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child
Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)
The increase in the exploitation of prostituted children is attributed to the fear of
HIV/AIDS. Some people believe children have less risk of having the disease. The sex trade
in chidlren is so well established, because of the influx of sex tourists and the
existence of sex tours catering to Japanese, European and other Caucasian tourists. (Sol.
F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child Prostitution," IPS,
12 October 1997)
Prostitution and
sex trafficking are pervasive in the countryside. According to a study made by various
non-governmental organizations led by the Women's Education, Development, Productivity and
Research Organization (WEDPRO), even remote rural areas are becoming favorite sites for
sex traffickers and prostitution syndicates. Certain areas in Laoag, General Santos City,
Negros, Southern Tagalog provinces, Pinatubo area, and Pagadian, to name a few, have
reported increasing numbers of cases of prostitution, and where prostituted women are no
longer from other provinces, but are local women. ("Ex-streetwalkers fight VFA: Form
advocacy groups in urban centers," The Philippine Journal, 18 September
1998)
Teen-age girls are
being forced into prostitution due to the Asian economic crisis. In Davao City, the
Philippines, there are more than 1,000 prostituted teen-age girls; customers pay as little
as from 50 cents to $2.50. This rise in prostitution increases the spread of AIDS,
especially as contraceptive costs have gone up with the currency collapse and bankrupt
government cuts in distribution programs.( Tambayan Center for Abused Street Girls,
"Asians in unhealthy crisis Financial woes produce ill effects on depressed region's
poverty-stricken," Washington Times, 25 September 1998)
Prostitution Tourism
The Philippines is one of the favored destinations of paedophile sex tourists from
Europe and the United States. ("Global law to punish sex tourists sought by Britain
and EU," The Indian Express, 21 November 1997
A Philippine Adventure Tour costs $1,645, including round trip airfare, hotel
accommodations and guided tours to the bars where men purchase sex from prostitutes for as
little as US $24. Tour owner and operator Allan Gaynor promises that customers "never
sleep alone on this tour" and recommends that the customer have sex with a different
girl every day "two if you can handle it." (Demonstrators at Los Angeles
International Airport Target Sex Tour to the Philippines," 18 April 1998)
Men from Australia and Great Britain are primary suspects as perpetrators of child
prostitution in the Philippines. Two of the three-pedophilia cases recently decided by
Philippine courts involved British nationals, although there are reportedly more
Australian suspects. (Philippines News Agency, 2 September 1997)
Many sex establishments in the Philippines are
backed by Japanese capital. (International Labor Organization, Elif Kaban, "UN labour
body urges recognition of sex industry," Reuters, 18 August 1998)
Prostitutuion tourists and the existence of sex tours catering to Japanese, European
and other Caucasian tourists help to keep child prostitution alive in the Philippines.
(End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), "Scourge of Child
Prostitution," Sol. F. Juvida, InterPress Service, 12 October 1997)
Whether or not by choice, men on sex tours inevitably buy underage girls. (New South
Wales legislator Meredith Burgmann, "Aussie sex tours still flourishing," Associated
Press, 1 October 1997)
13,000 Australians, second in number to Americans, a year visit Angeles City, a center
of prostitution surrounding the former Clark U.S. Air Force base in the Philippines.
(Cecilia Hofmann, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific, "Aussie sex
tours still flourishing," Associated Press, 1 October 1997)
Health and Well-being
Prostituted children remain prisoners of their damaged psyche despite rehabilitation
efforts. The longer a child stays in the sex industry, the harder it is to overcome the
trauma. (Child rights activists, Dr. Norietta Calma of the Philippine General
Hospital’s Child Protection Unit, Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children:
Scourge of Child Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)
There is "no evidence" that children in prostitution can ever rehabilitate.
"Few children rescued from brothels have been able to begin living anything like a
healthy life again. The wisdom of trying to end the prostitution of children rather than
attempting to assist the victims has been confirmed." (EPCAT coordinator Ron
O’Grady, Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child
Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)
Gonorrhea is the most common STD among children in prostitution. "They drink water
with a bit a TIDE detergent in the belief this would prevent gonorrhea." (Louie Orpea
a street educator, Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child
Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997) [catwlog9710c]
Cases
Sharon, a 13-year-old girl was kidnapped and sold as a virgin for US$30. In a brothel,
she was raped by 8 to 15 men every night, even when she had her menstrual period or was
running a fever, and by the time she escaped with a customer's help in February 1997, she
had 'serviced' more than 1,500 men. ("Scourge of Child Prostitution," Sol. F.
Juvida, InterPress Service, 12 October 1997)
Former Congressman Manolet Lavides, promised 30 dollars, for sexual favors, to four 15
year old girls - enough for a new pair of shoes one of the girls said she needed. (Sol. F.
Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge of Child Prostitution," IPS, 12
October 1997)
Policy and Law
The tourism program of the government which aims to project the Philippines as a major
tourist destination has increased the number of prostituted women. As more and more areas
of the country are targeted for tourism, more and more women are driven to prostitution in
desperation to ensure their family's survival. ("Women Evaluate the State of the
Nation," GABRIELA, 24 July 1997)
The Philippines is the first Asian country to pass an anti-child abuse law. (Lawyer
Jose Vener Ibarra, Advocacy for Children's Rights, "Scourge of Child
Prostitution," Sol. F. Juvida, InterPress Service, 12 October 1997)
In 1997 the Philippines signed anti-pedophilia cooperation agreements with Great
Britain and Australia. (Philippines News Agency, 2 September 1997)
Government policies favor the export of entertainers and domestic helpers that put
women at risk. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia
Pacific)
The Philippines 2000 development plan has increased violence against Filipino women. It
has not solved the problem of poverty but only worsened prostitution, violence against
migrant women, and increased the vulnerability of women to violence. ("Women
(D)Evaluate the State of the Nation," GABRIELA, 24 July 1997)
The Philippines is the first Asian country to pass an Anti-Child Abuse law. 158 cases
of child abuse - including sexual exploitation - were filed from 1994 - 1996. Five led to
convictions. (Records at the social welfare department, Lawyer Jose Vener Ibarra of the
Advocacy for Children’s Rights, Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines - Children: Scourge
of Child Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)
Official Response and Action
British police experts gave a training course in Manila for Filipino police officers on
how to deal with child and female victims of abuse. Twenty-one participants spent four
weeks learning the latest methods of investigating cases of child abuse and domestic
violence, dealing with child victims, and searching and forensic techniques. (British
Embassy, AFP, 9 November 1997)
In a month-long campaign against prostitution in July 1998, more than 70 suspected
prostitutes, 70 "guest relations officers" working without permits in various
clubs, 4 nude performers and 9 maintainers of "prostitution dens" were arrested.
Most prostitutes were illiterate, from rural areas when "white slavery
syndicates" lured them under false pretenses of decent jobs in Manila, and then
forced them into prostitution. (Pasay City police, Supt. Arturo Cacdac chief of police,
Joel San Juan, "Poverty still behind world’s oldest profession", TODAY, 26
July 1998)
Although according to law, prostitutes can receive 30 days imprisonment, and procurers
a minimum of six months to six years imprisonment, most are only fined. (Joel San Juan,
"Poverty still behind world’s oldest profession", TODAY, 26 July 1998)
Many victims of foreign paedophiles say they regret reporting the offense, because they
often see the paedophile post bail or flee the country. (Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines
- Children: Scourge of Child Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)
A 6-member task force was formed to conduct an investigation into sex trafficking and
prostitution especially for pedophiles in La Union. (Philippines News Association, 16
January 1998)
Britain and the Philippines
are cooperating to stop child sex tourism, through a pact signed by the two countries in
August 1997 that provides for co-operation between police forces. British police have
provided training for Filipino officers in Manila in identifying and countering child
prostitution and pornography and have run similar courses in Thailand and Sri Lanka. (Jill
Serjeant, "Asia to launch joint crackdown on child sex trade," Reuters,
1 April 1998)
NGO
Action
6,000 people peacefully
protested the VFA at the Philippine palace gates on September 16, 1998. The protest
coincided with the seventh anniversary of a Philippine Senate vote in 1991 rejecting the
extension of U.S. leases on military bases in the former American colony. A women's group
involved in the protest was concerned about the social implications of the agreement,
saying it would worsen prostitution. ("Thousands protest U.S.-Philippine military
accord," Reuters, 16 September 1998)
Protest of the VFA came from the Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific (CATW-AP). CATW said that the approval of the
VFA "could aggravate prostitution and will open doors to increased sexual
exploitation of our women and children." Under the proposed agreement, about 10,000
US military servicemen will have access to 22 docking ports all over the country. CATW
fears the unlimited number of US troops allowed entry and their indefinite length of stay
will result in an increase in the number of prostituted women and children. Pedophilia,
unwanted Amerasian children, and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS
virus are also expected to increase due to the presence of US troops. Military
prostitution, it added, has always been a problem in the past when the US bases were still
in the country. Past experience clearly showed that the security of the Filipino people,
especially women and children, from the US military was never taken into account.
("Ex-streetwalkers fight VFA: Form advocacy groups in urban centers," The Philippine Journal, 18
September 1998)
The International Labor
Organization’s call for governments to recognize the sex industry was protested by
Filipino advocacy groups. Groups based in Angeles City, Olongapo City, Davao and the
National Capital region including Buklod Center, Nagkakaisang Kababaihan in Angeles City,
Bukal, and the Davao-based Lawig made statements at a press conference. Participants
included former prostituted women. Statements include:
- "Legalizing prostitution is not an assurance that violence
and other forms of sexual abuses will not be committed. What it will do is to legalize the
abuses of paying customers since you are now bound by a ‘legal contract’,"
explained Pearly Bulawan of the Buklod Center.
- What women engaged in prostitution need, the survivors of
prostitution said, is economic assistance in the form of jobs as well as livelihood
training and educational opportunities. "We cannot accept the term ‘sex
worker’ to describe us."
- "You can never legalize profession or a job if it violates
the rights of women and degrades them," they added. Aida Santos of the Women's
Education, Development Productivity and Research Organization (WEDPRO) explained that
legalizing prostitution will further aggravate the already serious gender inequality
problem experienced by the women. Prostitution, she said, has to be viewed in the context
of political, economic and social issues on a gender structure and system that oppress
women. "One consistent factor we have observed in the course of our research and
studies on prostitution is men's unchanging behavior toward women," she revealed,
adding that "even now, most males regard women as inferiors."
- The women are asking for the decriminalization of prostitution and
the formulation of a law that will punish the owners of the prostitution establishments,
recruiters, pimps, traffickers, and the clients.
- They appealed to law enforcers to stop taking advantage of women
during police raids, adding that these men in uniform are also in the habit of exploiting
the women by allowing full-blown media coverage to the prejudice of the women, at the same
time sparing their (male) clientele.
"We need to reorient the people that prostitution is a
violation of human rights and that it's not okay to use or pay women for sex."
("Ex-streetwalkers fight VFA: Form advocacy groups in urban centers," The
Philippine Journal, 18 September 1998)
Case
Philippine courts last year sentenced two Britons to up to 17 years in jail for
paedophilia. (AFP, 9 November 1997)
The mother of a 15-year-old girl was sentenced to 10 years in jail for forcing her
daughter to become an "exotic dancer." (Sol. F. Juvida, "Philippines -
Children: Scourge of Child Prostitution," IPS, 12 October 1997)